You ever finish a pen strictly out of spite?

[jskeen]

I would have dropped this blank on the floor and stepped on it as soon as I got it turned if I had known what a pain in the arse is was going to turn into. Yes, it's snakewood, and yes, it cracked at least 7 or 8 times. I rough turned it, let it set for a week or two, then tubed it with white gorilla glue, and let it set a week or two. Then fine turned it to size and let it set, ect.ect.ect. Then I started slurry sanding with thin CA to fill in the cracks, sand back smooth, let it set for a week, slurry sanded again to fill the new cracks, about 3 more times. Then abranet'ed it to 400 cleaned with accelerator, and put on 6 or 7 coats of med ca. Gummed up the finish, sanded it off and tried again a couple of times. Finally got a nice finish on the body, tried 2 or 3 more times on the cap. Got it like I liked it. Went to get the body to assemble it and discovered that A) it had cracked again and B) I had sanded the cap so much the curves didn't match anymore. Sanded the body back down and finish it again (got it in 1 that time) might have been difference in humidity or something. Or maybe it knew if I had to sand it down again, it was going in the grinder? Anyway, finally got something out of it that looked like a pen. I got two pieces of this wood in a trade, can't remember who blessed me with it, but the other piece is available if somebody want's to trade for a headache

This blank didn't have a ton of the usual snakewood figure, but it did turn out to have an interesting looking set of stripes down the length of the pen, 180 degrees apart from each other. I guess that's where the medulary rays run parallel to the surface? If anybody knows for sure what this effect is, please enlighten us.

 

[CaptG]

A very nice looking pen. Will keep my fingers crossed.

 

[leehljp]

I hate this kind of situation but I use it and push through just to learn from the experience. I can finish several blanks perfectly and then get one that no matter what I do, something just goes wrong - a speckle below the finish; a crack; another; a scratch below the finish; a light spot where I sanded through and covered over with CA (wasn't noticeable at first but when polished).

Sometimes I give up and come back later. One thing about this kind of situation - even when I come back days or weeks later, that same blank is still a pain. I can take a new blank and be finished with it in 30 minutes or so, but that one blank is like it is cursed. I usually do learn something in my techniques each time that helps me in the future though.

SNAKEWOOD - Letterwood:
http://windsorplywood.com/tropical_woods/letterwood.html
General Characteristics: Heartwood dark red to reddish brown with irregular radial black markings or with black vertical stripes alone or in conjunction with the speckles; sapwood very thick, yellowish white, line of demarcation often irregular and not very sharp. Luster medium to high; texture fine and uniform; grain straight; odorless and tasteless.

What you described is the probably the wood between what is called the snakewood pattern and the non-snakewood pattern - and sometimes referred to as "Letterwood" as written in the link above. Letterwood is snakewood without the pattern. It often has straight lines of black stripes. In looking at your pen, I don't think yours would be called that because you have great pattern all around even though the patterns are not a pronounced solid black. I have had some that are half patterned and half plain with black stripes only. And I also have several all "letterwood" blanks a few years ago for a dollar a blank just to practice with.

 

[thewishman]

That sounds like a real pain of a pen. Got some cocobolo that is giving me fits, too. Maybe I should just let it go and move on after two days of frustration.

Your pen looks good. Are you glad you stuck with it?